Members of the Royal family, the members of the Government, prominent Peers, leading members of the House of Commons, the principal Judges and the Lord Mayor of London--by virtue of his office--were in attendance. Lord Salisbury, Lord Rosebery, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Balfour; the Dukes of Norfolk, Devonshire, Portland, Northumberland, Fife and Argyll; the Earls of Clarendon, Pembroke, Chesterfield, Cork and Orrery and Kintore; Lord Halsbury, Lord Ashbourne, Lord Knutsford, Sir M. E. Hicks-Beach, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Lord George Hamilton, Mr. St. John Brodrick, the Marquess of Lansdowne, Mr. W. H. Long, M.P., Lord Ridley, Sir. H. Campbell-Bannerman, Sir J. E. Gorst, the Marquess of Ripon, Lord Goschen, Mr. H. H. Asquith, Lord Pirbright, Lord Selborne, Sir R. Temple, Mr. W. E. H. Lecky, Sir Drummond Wolff, Sir Charles Dilke, Lord Stalbridge, Sir M. E. Grant-Duff, Mr. John Morley, Earl Spencer and Earl Carrington were amongst those present. After the Council had been officially informed by its President of the Queen's death and of the accession of the Prince of Wales, the new Sovereign entered, clad in a Field Marshal's uniform, and delivered, without manuscript or notes, a speech which was a model of dignity and simplicity. Its terms showed most clearly both tact and a profound perception of his position and its importance was everywhere recognized: "Your Royal Highnesses, My Lords and Gentlemen: This is the most painful occasion on which I shall ever be called upon to address you. My first melancholy duty is to announce to you the death of my beloved mother, the Queen, and I know how deeply you and the whole nation, and, I think I may say, the whole world, sympathize with me in the irreparable loss we have all sustained. I need hardly say that my constant endeavour will be always to walk in her footsteps. In undertaking the heavy load which now devolves upon me I am fully determined to be a constitutional Sovereign in the strictest sense of the word, and, so long as there is breath in my body, to work for the good and amelioration of my people. I have resolved to be known by the name of Edward, which has been borne by six of my ancestors. In doing so I do not undervalue the name of Albert, which I inherit from my ever to-be-lamented, great and wise father, who by universal consent is I think, and deservedly, known by the name of Albert the Good, and I desire that his name should stand alone. In conclusion, I trust to Parliament and the nation to support me in the arduous duties which now devolve upon me by inheritance, and to which I am determined to devote my whole strength during the remainder of my life."